The teenager was snapped up for £12.24 million, making him the most expensive teenager in the world - a record that didn't last long with United alone having snapped up Anderson (£22 million), Wayne Rooney (£26 million), Luke Shaw (£31 million) and Anthony Martial (£36 million) in recent years.

Ferguson had been in pursuit of Ronaldo for a while, but had to accelerate proceedings as other sides became interested in the Portuguese teenager.

Though Ronaldo is now renowned for his tremendous feats of goalscoring, he was not always quite so prolific.

In his first four seasons at the club, he scored 50 goals for United. But in the 2007/8 season, Ronaldo reached new heights, scoring 42 goals in all competitions and helping United lift the Premier League and Champions League trophies.

Despite rumours that he would leave for Real Madrid, he remained at Old Trafford and scored 25 goals the following season, winning the Premier League for one final time but losing in the Champions League final to Barcelona.

Ronaldo was finally granted his wish during the summer of 2009 as he signed for Real Madrid in a world-record £80 million deal.

Ronaldo is unveiled as a Galactico

His goalscoring feats at the Bernabeu have been scarcely believable. He has scored 351 goals in 304 appearances for the club, winning the Champions League twice and the Ballon d'Or on three occasions.

This summer, he finally achieved success on the international front as his Portugal side - shorn of their talisman through injury minutes into the final - defeated the hosts France 1-0 to win Euro 2016.

Since that fateful day 13 years ago, Ronaldo has evolved to become one of the world's most complete players, vying with Lionel Messi year-on-year to be crowned the world's best player.

For the player revealed alongside Ronaldo on 12 August 2003, things didn't work out quite the same.

The other Ronaldo may have scored the goals, but Brazil's 2002 World Cup win was attributed elsewhere

Ferguson announced not only the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo but also of world cup-winning midfielder, Kléberson.

The 24-year-old Brazilian was signed from Atlético Paranaense for £6 million, having been given a ringing endorsement from Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Elgan Alderman

Hailing from South Wales via Durham University, Elgan is currently studying for an MA in Journalism whilst hoping that Wales' golden generation extends to writing. His jokes can sometimes be heard on Radio 4, but not as often as he'd like.